Category: Devotions

WEDNESDAY March 6^th

Romans 8:1

‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus’ the NIV also has ‘who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit.’

I have returned to this verse again, for as you will have noticed, I have added onto the text from the ESV, the additional text that is to be found in the NIV and the KJV, but not in the NLT or the CSB.

The additional text is like a caveat to the first statement, a warning if you like that says that if we want to continue in a state of not being under condemnation, then we must live according to the Spirit.

If we claim to be no longer under condemnation, then we must show it through the kind of life that we live and the choices we make. We cannot claim as we learn from 2 Corinthians 5:17 to be a new creation if we are still living as we were as the old creation!

Being free from condemnation means that we have not only been saved, or justified, we have also become new creations who now seek to live according to the Spirit, this means that we learn to say no to anything that would bring discredit to our testimony, discredit to the gospel and discredit to the one who is our Lord and Saviour.

I said at the commencement of this look into Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit is mentioned 20 times, this must be a good pointer for us that the Christian life can only and must only be lived out with the help of the Holy Spirit. A while back I used an illustration while preaching about the lane assist function in a lot of newer cars. When switched on it tugs the steering to tell you that you are going outside the lanes that have been marked. If you remember I said that I find it to be a nuisance and so I tend to switch it off! I illustrated that the Holy Spirit is essential in our lives, and we need to allow him to tug at us when we are veering off course, but how many of us try to switch off the tug of the Holy Spirit because what the Spirit desires or even has the right to demand of us is not according to what we want as far as the flesh is concerned!

I need the tug of the Holy Spirit, if we want to use a biblical word, I need the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, we all do, to enable us to stay on the right course, to enable us to live according to the ways of God, to help us to not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

TUESDAY March 5^th

Romans 8:1

‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus’ the NIV also has ‘who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit.’

It can be too easy for me to get carried away when preparing the devotions, for the more I explore, the more I want to include, and this first verse is one such verse. It immediately opens up to us the wonderful subject of what salvation has done for us, in a nutshell, condemnation is gone, we who were once guilty as sinners now stand before God as justified, he declares to us ‘Not guilty’.

Paul had received such incredible revelation concerning the doctrine of salvation. We could say, as we consider what he had been as a blasphemer and hater of the gospel message, that he of all people would be excited to celebrate the fact that all condemnation had gone and he had been welcomed, admitted through grace into the family of God.

But this is also our testimony, yes! yours and mine as we have come by faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter who we were and what we had done, prior to our new birth, in Christ we have been forgiven, and God has made the declaration over us ‘Not guilty’, therefore, today rejoice that you are no longer under condemnation and you too have been included, welcomed into the family of God. This is a subject which Paul will bring us to as we go through this chapter, but for now, from verse 15, ‘. . . you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by who we cry, “Abba! Father!”’

Justification is a major part of the redemption story, for Scripture is very clear that we are all deserving of death and of eternal punishment for our sin.

Our sin which is transgression before the holy God had also separated us from God. There was a great unassailable gulf between us, we could do absolutely nothing to bridge the gulf, but one did and his name is Jesus. He became a man, lived as a man, and he died as a man so that though his death and resurrection the gulf could be spanned. He took our sin—yes, all your sin, all my sin, in fact the sin of the whole world and died as a substitute for us, taking the punishment and the wrath of God toward that sin, so that God could be satisfied, and the justifier of all who would come to him by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the only means of salvation and therefore the only means through which God can look at any man or woman and declare ‘Not guilty’.

Until the ‘Not guilty’ verdict has been declared upon us, we are still under condemnation, many think that they are okay as they stand before God, but the means for which they assume to be okay are not valid, they depend on their own works, self-righteousness, maybe even by adhering to rules and regulations, but the verdict is only made by coming through the way that God has made available, the Lord Jesus Christ.

‘Therefore’ if you are in Christ, that is you have been born again by the Spirit of God, you are no longer under condemnation, it is in the grace of God that you stand.

MONDAY March 4^th

Zechariah 4:6

‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD of hosts’.

Well, at first when I came to the end of preparing the devotions on the resurrection chapter, I felt like I had come to an anti-climax, thinking what can I spend the next devotions on that can compare in any way with 1 Corinthians 15? Easy, you may think, but not when this chapter is your favourite of all Scripture!

Well, the answer soon came, for as I was preparing ministry for a Sunday morning, I turned to another of what I would call well-known chapters from the pen of Paul, and it is Romans chapter 8 and immediately had my answer.

This chapter fits in well with the theme I have given for 2024, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD of hosts’, because Romans 8 mentions the Holy Spirit twenty times (ESV).

I wonder how much of this chapter we can recall, not maybe verse by verse, but quote parts of it because it is so well used and well quoted. In fact, it is a great chapter to follow on from 1 Corinthians 15 with because that chapter talks about the incredible victory that is ours because of the resurrection and this chapter, Romans 8 concludes in reminding us that the victory we know and will yet know is such that absolutely nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now with whatever way you want to think of this, consider it this way, for the whole of eternity, which is, well, forever and ever we will be immersed for want of a better way of putting it in the immeasurable love of God! The love that God showed toward us in sending his one and only Son into this world, the love which his one and only Son demonstrated for us at Calvary, the love that is made known to us and shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

So, from the next devotion we will look through this chapter, but to end today, the words of a song which speak to me the wonder of and the reason why we can have full assurance of the hope that both 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 8 speak of—the wonder of the Cross.

Oh, to see the dawn,

Of the darkest day,

Christ on the road to Calvary,

Tried by sinful men,

Torn and beaten, then,

Nailed to a cross of wood.

 

This, the pow’r of the cross,

Christ became sin for us,

Took the blame, bore the wrath,

We stand forgiven at the cross.

 

Oh, to see the pain,

Written on Your face,

Bearing the awesome weight of sin,

Ev’ry bitter thought,

Ev’ry evil deed,

Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

 

Now the daylight flees,

Now the ground beneath,

Quakes as its Maker bows His head,

Curtain torn in two,

Dead are raised to life,

“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.

 

Oh, to see my name,

Written in the wounds,

For through Your suffering, I am free,

Death is crushed to death,

Life is mine to live,

Won through Your selfless love.

 

This, the pow’r of the cross

Son of God, slain for us

What a love! What a cost!

We stand forgiven at the cross

Keith and Krystyn Getty

FRIDAY March 1^st

1 Corinthians 15:58

‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.’

Well, after four weeks, we have come to the last verse of this magnificent chapter and to remind ourselves that Paul has written its content to remind the Corinthian believers of those things which are of first importance (vv1-8).

After what has become the longest section in the letter he has written, he says ‘Therefore’, considering what I have just written, which was all about the resurrection, ‘be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord’—and why? Because ‘in the Lord your labour is not in vain’.

How steadfast are we? Are we immovable, or are we easily moved, is our faith and our enthusiasm for our faith swaying as we navigate this world, perhaps too often sailing too close to the wind?

 

To be honest we have it relatively easy in Britain now, but it may not always be the case. Should trouble arise, should persecution come, should opposition come fiercely against us as Christian men and women, will your anchor hold?

 

Well, the answer is dependent upon how much we are fully trusting in Jesus and on how much we are building our lives upon that which matters for eternity rather than that which is but temporal. It will depend upon whether we are truly seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness or are we preferring to seek after the pleasure of this world and our own pursuits.

 

When Paul touched on the second coming in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 he closed it off with these words in verse 18 ‘Therefore encourage one another with these words.’

 

I trust that as I have taken us through this chapter it has been a means of encouragement to us all, but you don’t only need the encouragement that I give, we all need to be in a place where we are encouraging one another! And even so much more today. I conclude 1 Corinthians 15 with the words of a song:

 

 

 

It will be worth it all,

When we see Jesus!

Life’s trials will seem so small,

When we see Christ.

One glimpse of his dear face,

All sorrow will erase.

So, bravely run the race,

Till we see Christ.

THURSDAY February 29^th

1 Corinthians 15:57

‘But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

I have returned to the verse I closed with in the previous devotion, for I want us to note that everything that we have revelled in within this chapter and all that we are going to enjoy in heaven is all because of God and what he has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of the line of a hymn, ‘Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling’.

Not one of us were able to bring anything to the table regarding our salvation, absolutely nothing, it all needed to be from God and through Jesus.

 

I was lost – God sent a Saviour who found me.

I was hopeless – now all my hope is in Jesus.

I was dead – but now in Christ I have been made alive.

My own righteousness was like filthy rags – His righteousness has been imputed to me.

I deserved hell – but Jesus is going to welcome me into heaven.

 

We could continue the list, and our response to everything we would list should be to give thanks to God from a grateful heart for the incredible victory that is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am just simply going to leave us with the words of a song today, I’ll include it in the audio version.

How can I say thanks,

For the things you’ve done for me,

Things so undeserved,

Yet you gave to prove your love to me.

The voices of a million angels,

Could not express my gratitude,

All that I am and ever hope to be,

I owe it all to thee.

 

To God be the glory,

To God be the glory,

To God be the glory,

For the things He has done.

With His blood, He has saved me,

With His power, He has raised me.

To God be the glory,

For the things he has done,

With His power, He has raised me.

To God be the glory,

For the things he has done.

WEDNESDAY February 28^th

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

‘When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Well, as we come to the final devotions on this chapter, and have considered the resurrection and the rapture of the saints, Paul reminds us that once all of what he has spoken about has taken place it will be the fulfilment of what had already been written in Isaiah 25:8 ‘He will swallow up death forever’ and from Hosea 13:14 ‘O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?’

This chapter if I can put it this way has taken us from the Garden of Eden, where through Adam sin entered the world, thus bringing death to all men, to the Gospel of Jesus which brings us deliverance from sin and resurrection from the dead to the Grandeur of Heaven where we will be found, clothed in His glory.

Anyone who has suffered an anaphylactic reaction, (I have a few times) knows what it is like to suddenly feel your throat tightening, and your face swelling and your breathing getting more difficult—you need assistance as quickly as possible—usually a shot of Epinephrine via an epi-pen. Now, I do not know of anyone who while undergoing such a shock that has refused the shot! We know it is what was needed to save our life.

The wages of sin is death. And sin has gotten hold of every single person that has ever been born, and sin takes hold of an individual and will hold you in its grip, but God has provided a remedy that will take away the sting of sin that leads to death and it is through a person, not an epi-pen, it is through his shed blood and not via epinephrine, once the blood of Jesus has been applied, the sting of sin will be taken away and new, eternal life is given.

YET even though Christ has provided the antidote for sin and for death, many refuse to come and accept him, they prefer to continue in sin and to reject the offer of life and hope that the good news of the gospel brings.

And Paul says, ‘But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ I know that when I have been given a shot from the epi-pen the first thing I have done is to say thank you! And as I read this chapter and rejoice in what the gospel has come to mean to me and with all that it has provided for me, I cannot but say ‘thank you’ ‘Thank you Lord for saving my soul, thank you Lord for making me whole, thank you Lord for giving to me, thy great salvation so full and free. Can you wonder, can you wonder, can you wonder why it is I love him so, when I think of all he’s done, and for me the guilty one, can you wonder why it is I love him so!

TUESDAY February 27^th

1 Corinthians 15:51–53

‘Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.’

As we continue in these verses, Paul informs us that immediately that the trumpet has sounded and instantaneously in the split second after the cry has been given, we will be changed!

Sorry ladies, there will no fitting rooms where you can take your time! There will be no need for sitting around and waiting men! In a twinkle of an eye we will be changed, transformed, immediately ready to leave this world behind, fitted out and kitted out to enable us to be in the presence of Almighty God. Notice it says ‘raised imperishable’ you cannot get more immediate or quicker than that!

I have recently watched a couple of YouTube clips showing the launching of space craft, and it is incredible the amount of power that is required to enable the lift off, let alone to enable the space craft to break through the atmosphere of the earth and out into space. And when you watch a blast off, it is amazing how fast and how far the space craft can get in just a few seconds. But the power attached to the space craft pales into insignificance when we consider the power of God that will be at work on the day of his coming.

Power to raise, power to transform, power to transport, power to bring us into the presence of God.

Think of it again:

Power to raise  – It doesn’t matter how long ago the believer died, whether one of  the first believers such as Stephen the martyr, way back over 2000 years ago, or the last believer that may have only been buried on the morning when this momentous event takes place, they could have been buried with just a shallow grave or with large slabs of concrete or marble upon the spot, but nothing will stop the power of God, and can I add, even cremation cannot stop the power of God, nor burial at sea, his power is such that he can cause the elements of what we were to be suddenly transformed into what we are going to be! Such is the power of Almighty God.

Power to transform – I quote again from Philippians 3:20-21 ‘But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.’

Power to transport – no time lag, no slow motion, no spluttering, instantly out of the grave and into heaven. This resurrection chapter is so wonderful, it is no wonder it is my favourite chapter, it is no wonder I love to preach from it, it is no wonder I have ended up spending so many devotions going through it—and there are still some verses left, it is no wonder because it is full of wonder. Oh, what a glorious day waits for each one of us who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

MONDAY February 26^th

1 Corinthians 15:51–53

‘Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.’

We have already considered verse 51 when I was looking at the various ‘mystery’ verses in Paul’s letters, but it is such an incredible statement that it is worth looking at again with the few verses that follow.

What a glorious moment this is going to be when the dead in Christ will be raised and along with the believers who are alive at the time will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

Paul mentions here the sound of the last trumpet which will sound to herald this event, in 1 Thessalonians he expands further by also mentioning the Lord himself descending from heaven with a cry of command as well.

Back in John 14, Jesus had told his disciples that he was going to be leaving them, he would return to his Father and would begin to prepare a place for all who believe on him, and then he said he would come again to take them to be where he was. In Acts when Luke records the ascension of Jesus, he says that two men appeared in white apparel, they were obviously angels from heaven, who said to the disciples that ‘This Jesus’ who they had seen being taken up into heaven, would come again. I recall one writer in a book I read saying something like this: That as Jesus was going up into heaven, he would have passed the angels making their way down to earth as they came to speak to the gazing disciples!

And Jesus will be true to his word, he is coming again, he will come again and the signal that he is about to come to call the Church, those who have died in Christ and the living believers to be with himself will be the trumpet blast and the cry of command.

Back in my time growing up on the farm, one of the things we would do when it was time to feed the animals, especially in the winter months was to get to the gate and call out to them and to make a noise with the food bag and soon the animals would come because they have heard the voice and the noise.

Well, the good Shepherd is going to come to the gate of heaven, he is going to give a good shout out to the Church, and he is going to make a noise with the trumpet and instantly we are going to respond and be found in his presence.

Revelation 1:7 says ‘Behold. He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.’

As you read this devotion, are you ready for when Jesus comes again, have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, and if you have, are you living and looking with anticipation for his coming?

FRIDAY February 23rd

1 Corinthians 15:50

‘I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.’

Paul is making this statement to the believers, and in doing so he is reaffirming what he has just written to them concerning the resurrection body.

Now, although he writes it to the ‘brothers’, it needs also to be said to the unbelieving world. ‘Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the imperishable inherit the imperishable’.

People need reminding that there is only way to enter the kingdom of God, it is not through our own effort, it is not through works, it is not even possible through any other religion, it is only possible through accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, he is the one that made open the way, to give us access into the presence of God. And he made the way possible by coming into this world as a man and he alone has died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day, he alone can forgive sin, he alone can grant eternal life, he alone is coming again for those who have believed in him and he alone is going to raise by the power of the Spirit all those who have died with a personal faith in him. NO one else and no other way.

So anyone who is trusting in anyone but Jesus, anything but Jesus and anything they have done instead of Jesus will never ever know what it is to be raised imperishable, raised in glory, raised in power, and raised a spiritual body, and be found eternally in the presence of God, instead they will be raised to stand before the great white throne, and the verdict will be that they will face the second death, the lake of fire, from which there will never ever be any respite or hope of recovery.

This is serious, and yet sadly so many consider it as foolishness or nonsense, they reject the gospel, they reject the good news of salvation, they reject the only way to make peace with God, they choose to continue in sin and will never unless they repent enjoy all that God has prepared for those that love him.

To all who read the devotions, or listen to the audio version, where do you stand regarding these things? It was to Nicodemus that Jesus said ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’

THURSDAY February 22^nd

1 Corinthians 15:42

‘So is it with the resurrection of the dead.’

Continuing from the previous devotion we come to the fourth point that Paul has made concerning the resurrected body in verses 42-44, ‘it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body’.

Remember the phrase, ‘the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak’ this demonstrates to us that the flesh is that which is earthly and because of the fall of mankind and the entrance of sin into the world, the flesh has always been weak, and perpetually holds us back in that which we want to do in spirit, but after the resurrection, the flesh will no longer be, for as Paul later says in this chapter ‘flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God’ v50, therefore the power of the resurrection is such that we are raised with a spiritual body, no longer to be held back with the constraints of the flesh and no longer susceptible to the weakness of the flesh.

In verses 45-49 we read ‘Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.’

Paul is reminding us that the flesh is to do with first Adam, who became a living-being and the spirit is to do with Jesus who became the second Adam. The first Adam was of the flesh, but the second Adam was from heaven.

The wonder of the incarnation and the redemption story is that Christ came from heaven and took on flesh, so that we who are born of the flesh can one day be raised not in the same flesh but raised by the Spirit with a new spiritual body. And just as in the natural we are like the first Adam, in the spirit we will be like the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our human ancestry is from the line of the first Adam, but our spiritual ancestry is through the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is of course if you have been born again by the Spirit of God into this wonderful family.